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Key contacts

Environment

Telephone: 0845 603 7624

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Sustainability

Essex County Council is determined to consider sustainability as a factor in everything we do. Sustainability is about effectively managing and enhancing the environment we have and improving the quality of life for current and future generations through the consideration of longer-term issues.

 
As part of its commitment to sustainable development and sustainable living, Essex County Council is committed to managing its own environmental impacts, encouraging and supporting others to do the same, and continuously improving the environment for the benefit of residents and businesses. An environmental statement summarises the council's key objectives and vision.
 
One of the council's key aims is to manage the impact of extreme weather events and reduce our contributions to the causes. This is being integrated across all service areas within the council and there are some excellent examples of best practice which include:
 
  • Energy efficiency training for home improvement agency staff and other energy saving initiatives.
  • Environmental and sustainable procurement advice to our partners.
  • Coordinating the regional provision of climate change skills training for planners.
  • Monitoring our carbon footprint from our own operations.
  • Compiling a climate change risk assessment of all council services.
  • Implementing a climate change adaptation action plan.  An explanation of this plan is contained within the accompanying summary and non-technical summary.
  • The adoption of a corporate emissions strategy, which defines the authority’s ambitions and objectives to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions from its own operations, taking into account the Carbon Reduction Commitment Energy Efficiency Scheme.
  • An Essex Local Climate Impacts Profile, commissioned in 2010 by the local authorities within Essex and produced by an MSc student from the University of Essex. The aim of the report was to assess the impact of weather events from January 2004 to December 2009 on local authority services, businesses and communities in order to make informed adaptation decisions.